Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Six patients have died due to leptospirosis in the past 3 days while 33 others remain confined at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Quezon City, a hospital official said Wednesday, sounding the alarm on the rise in cases of the rat-borne disease.

A 16-year old boy and 5 adults died due to pulmonary hemorrhage or bleeding in the lungs, Dr. Luis Limchiu Jr., Chairman of NKTI’s Department of Adult Nephrology, told ABS-CBN News.

“Most of the patients were family breadwinners who had waded in floods and work even during stormy weather,” said Dr. Romina Danguilan, NKTI’s Hemodialysis Unit Head.

As of Wednesday noon, 22 leptospirosis patients were already undergoing dialysis to remedy kidney failure caused by the bacteria commonly acquired through contact with rat urine.

“We recorded 44 admissions between June 23 and 27. This is alarming because we only had 41 leptospirosis patients in the entire 2017,” Danguilan said.

At least 1,030 cases of leptospirosis were recorded in the Philippines between January 1 and June 9, 2018, data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed.

The figure is half the total number of leptospirosis cases in 2017 pegged at 2,495, DOH records showed.

On Tuesday, the NKTI setup a makeshift 24-bed leptospirosis ward in the hospital’s gym as wards are already full.

“We expected na dadami (that there will be more cases) dahil rainy season but we did not expect it to increase by this much,” Danguilan said.

ANTI-LEPTOSPIROSIS DRUG

The sudden spike in leptospirosis cases may be due to more frequent flooding and the failure of those possibly exposed to rat urine to take anti-leptospirosis antibiotics, she said.